Article forming apparatus



Feb. 25, 1964 F. WAHL 3,122,193

ARTICLE FORMING APPARATUS Filed Dec. 29. 1961 2 sheets-sheet 1 IN VEN TD@ F1 LUDI-IL.

TTQQNE/ Feb. 25, 1964 F, WAHL 3,122,193

ARTICLE FORMING APPARATUS Filed Dec. 29. 1961 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 United States Patent O 3,122,193 ARTICLE FORMING APPARATUS Frank Wahl, North Bergen, NJ., assignor to Western Eiectric Company Incorporated, New York, N.Y., a corporation of New York Filed Dec. 29, 1961, Ser. No. 163,248 Claims. (Cl. 153-19) This invention relates to article forming apparatus and particularly to apparatus for forming articles on a selective basis.

It is generally known that devices may be employed to check articles for conformance to a standard and to automatically alter the non-standard articles to meet the standard. While such devices are known, no practical arrangement has been developed for the mass production of certain relay subassemblies. The volume of relays required for diverse industrial applications has placed a premium on technological innovation and made the use of automatic methods an economic necessity. The present invention is concerned with an apparatus designed to check and to maintain a critical relationship between parts such as a relay armature and hinge spring by automatically making adjustments on detection of a fault. It is adapted for use in a turret type machine turning out relay subassemblies of armatures and hinge springs riveted together by an apparatus of the type described in my related application, Frank Wahl, Serial No. 111,356, tiled May 19, 1961. The present invention assures the accurate forming of piece parts without time consuming gauging and readjustment and is, therefore, ideally suited to the mass production of relay subassemblies.

An obiect of this invention is an apparatus for selectively forming articles to extremely accurate dimensions.

A more specific object of this invention is an apparatus for forming relay hinge springs to a desired relationship with an armature where the correct relationship does not already exist.

In accordance with the general features of this invention, a memory pin is moved to either operable or idle positions by a pin setter located in advance of a forming operation. For use with a turret type machine, each nest for the parts has a memory pin which the pin setter moves into an idle position, where it remains unless portions of the spring are too high or too far from portions of the armature. A latch is actuated by contact with the spring in such instances to free spring urged means moving the memory pin into an operable position. The memory pin in the idle position precludes operation of a valve for the forming fixture but when moved into its operable position, the pin opens a valve to operate an air cyilnder. Forming rollers are forced into engagement with the legs of the spring bending them to the correct relationship with the respective legs of the armature. The invention is described in connection with a U-shaped spring and a U-shaped armature but it could be used to selectively form a multitude of various shaped articles. It is also conceivable that this invention could be utilized in a variety of other machines other than the turret type.

Other objects and advantages will be apparent from the following detailed description when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. l is an illustration of the memory pin setter feature of the invention;

FIG. 2 is an illustration of the article forming apparatus bending a relay hinge spring into a specified relation with its armature;

FIG. 3 illustrates an application of the invention in a turret type arrangement; and

FIG. 4 is a view of the forming apparatus working 3,122,193 Patented Feb. 25, 1964 ICC on a hingle spring and armature assembly, parts of which are shown in broken out section.

With reference to the drawings, the memory pin setter 11 in the preferred embodiment is mounted in advance of a forming station 12 in an indexing turret type machine 13 which rivets a relay hinge spring 14 to an armature 16. lt is important for the electrical operation of the relay that portions of the spring 14 be spaced at a certain distance from the armature 16. When properly spaced, on rotation of the turret by suitable drive means (not shown), the spring 14 will miss a latch 17 pivoted at 18 and normally positioned to engage a shoulder 19 of a rod 21 actuable by spring 22 to hold an actuator block 23 to the right.

Each nest 15 for the parts has a memory pin 26 slidably mounted in a member 25. Cam means 24 at the pin setter position moves each memory pin 26 to the idle position 20 where it will remain unless the spring 14 engages and swings the latch 17 free of the shoulder 19. ln the latter case of a non-conforming spring, the actuator block 23 will be moved to the left by the rod 22 sending the memory pin 26 into its operable position 30 beyond the cam means 24 as the turret advances clockwise as shown in FIG. 3.

When the memory pin 26 is in its operable position, it will operate a valve 27 causing an air cylinder 28 to rock a lever 29 having a plurality of adjustable stop means 31 mounted on its upper end and a pair of rollers 34 mounted on its lower end into position against one of a plurality of positive stops 33. The lever 29 is normally restrained at 37 by resilient means 32 so that the rollers 34 fail to contact the work. The adjustable stop means 31 permit varied movements of the lever 29 about the pivot 35 to cause different degrees of varied bending and forming actions of rollers 34 on the legs of the spring 14 as they move vertically toward the legs of the armature 16. To accommodate parts of varying dimension without time consuming adjustments, the positive stops 33 pivot about 36 so that the proper stop may be swung into position facing the corresponding stop means 31. Obviously, if the hinge spring 14 is properly formed initially the valve 27 will not be actuated and no forming will be done at the forming station 12.

It is to be understood that the above-described arrangements are simply illustrative of the principles of the invention. Numerous other arrangements may be readily devised by those skilled in the art which will embody the principles of the invention and fall within the spirit and scope thereof.

What is claimed is:

1. An apparatus for forming articles on a selective basis comprising:

a movable work holder,

a plurality of work holding means mounted on the holder for supporting articles,

a memory pin individual to each work holding means,

a first work station for detecting the position of articles in the holders, including detecting means for detecting the position of an article advanced to the iirst work station and control means responsive to the operation of the detecting means to control the position of the memory pin, and

a second work station including means for forming articles, and means for selectively operating the forming means in response to the position of the memory pin individual to the particular work holding means advanced to the second Work station.

2. In a turret type apparatus for forming relay hinge spring and armature subassemblies on a selective basis,

a rotatable turret including a plurality of nests, one

for .each subassembly and a plurality of correspond- Y ingrmemory means,

a first work station for gauging the position of a relay hinge spring fed to the iirst work station comprising gauging means located above the nest and means responsiveY to the gauging means for setting the kcorresponding memory'means if a spring is not in the proper position,

a second work station for forming relay hinge springs which fail to meet requirements comprising pivotal forming means and means responsive to the setting yof the memory means to operate said forming means, and

means for rotating the turret to advance the nests and memory means from station to station.

3. An apparatus according to claim 2 wherein:

the memory means comprises a housing having an aperture therein and a slidable pin movable within the aperture in response to the operation of the gauging means. Y

4. An apparatus according to claim 3 wherein the rst work station comprises:

a pivotal latch located above the hinge spring fed to the irst work station,

a spring-urged rod having a shoulder normally engaged by the latch, and Y a roller mounted to engage one end of a memory pin, said rod being released by the latch when a spring is detected in a predetermined portion and pivots the latch free from the shoulder causing the rod to urge at least the other end of the memory pin toward the roller and thereby positioning it upon rotation of the turret away from the first work station. 5. An apparatus according to claim 4 wherein the second work station comprises:

a lever pivoted at an intermediate portion and having one or more adjustablev stops mounted at one end n and a pair of forming rollers mounted at the other end,

a cooperating positive stop to engage the adjustable stop,

a spring normally maintaining the rollers in an unoperated condition above the nest,

a Huid-operated cylinder for pivoting said rollers into a forming position over a hinge spring, and

a valve responsive to a memory pin setting to actuate said cylinder driving the rollers into contact with a hinge spring in a predetermined'position 'until a stop limits the forming action of the rollers.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,361,513 Altman Dec. 7, 1920 i 1,361,528 Nlaine DSC. 7, 1920 2,355,468 RObb Aug. 8, 1944 OTHER REFERENCES Aachler: Autound Maschinenbau G.rn.b.H., 406, 733, 153-39 (German) (4 shts. dwg.; 4 pp. spec), Nov. 29, 

1. AN APPARATUS FOR FORMING ARTICLES ON A SELECTIVE BASIS COMPRISING: A MOVABLE WORK HOLDER, A PLURALITY OF WORK HOLDING MEANS MOUNTED ON THE HOLDER FOR SUPPORTING ARTICLES, A MEMORY PIN INDIVIDUAL TO EACH WORK HOLDING MEANS, A FIRST WORK STATION FOR DETECTING THE POSITION OF ARTICLES IN THE HOLDERS, INCLUDING DETECTING MEANS FOR DETECTING THE POSITION OF AN ARTICLE ADVANCED TO THE FIRST WORK STATION AND CONTROL MEANS RESPONSIVE TO THE OPERATION OF THE DETECTING MEANS TO CONTROL THE POSITION OF THE MEMORY PIN, AND 